Prince Yadav floors RCB as Patidar admits they were 'two shots behind'

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar said his team was running "two shots behind" Lucknow Super Giants in a closely-contested IPL 2026 game which snapped LSG's six-match losing streak at Lucknow on Thursday.

Patidar had plenty of praise reserved for Prince Yadav, whose vital spell of 3-33 pushed RCB behind in their pursuit, eventually falling nine runs short in a rain-affected game shortened to 19-overs-a-side.

Prince delivered off just his second ball, nipping one through Virat Kohli's defences to leave RCB at 9/2 in their chase of 213. He then broke a 95-run stand by accounting for Devdutt Padikkal, as well as Jitesh Sharma four balls later. Needing 63 off the last four, RCB's lower order counter-attacked valiantly, but LSG prevailed to hand the defending champions their second loss in a row.

At the post-match press conference, Patidar called Prince's effort a "game-changing spell", saying that he's never really seen the seamer concede too many runs at any level.

"We've played a lot of domestic matches with Prince against Delhi. I've been watching him since the start. He has a lot of variations, he has pace, line and length, and swing with the new ball. Overall, he's a proper fast bowler. One of his strengths is the way he trusts his skills. That's commendable.

"And I've seen him for a long time. He's given his team breakthroughs. And he's an expert at that. Spot on. I've been watching him for a long time; I've never seen him give away runs. And even today, he bowled really well, especially the slowers that he tried. That was a game-changing spell for him."

Prince, also speaking at the press conference, said he felt really good after taking Kohli's wicket, but was happier that his team won, saying that if he had claimed the wicket and they had lost, he would have felt differently about it.

Currently the team's leading wicket-taker and third on the Purple Cap list, Prince credited fast-bowling coach Bharat Arun and senior quick Mohammed Shami for their guidance throughout the season. He specifically noted that Shami's inputs on the new ball have been valuable, and his constant presence at mid-on or mid-off has added to his confidence.

Speaking separately to broadcasters about the Kohli dismissal, Prince said that incidentally, Kohli himself had passed on a key bit of advice to him after the last game, which the LSG quick ended up sticking to.

When asked if the plan was to bowl on the channel that dismissed Kohli, Prince said: "That was exactly the plan. In fact, after the last match, I was talking to Virat Bhaiya only, and he himself told me (this). We spoke on a lot of things after that game, and he told me that if the ball is doing things around the length-mark, then don't leave that length."

Despite Prince's spell, the game distilled to a tense finish, with RCB needing a stiff 20 runs in the final over, with Rishabh Pant trusting Digvesh Rathi, who had conceded 41 runs in three overs. Prince said the team didn't have any doubts about the spinner delivering.

Before Prince's spell, RCB were flattened by Mitch Marsh's belligerent 49-ball century in the first innings. Before rain intervened, Marsh was flying solo, having scored 107 of LSG's 145 runs.

"The way he (Marsh) started in the powerplay, it put pressure on us in a way," Patidar conceded. "But I am quite satisfied with the way we bowled and controlled the game.

"I felt like we were two shots behind: we just lost by nine runs."

Despite this not being a home game, RCB found plenty of support in the Lucknow stands. Patidar said it never feels like they're playing an away game, calling it the "specialty of RCB fans" to come support them everywhere they go. He also insisted that the team was not carrying the "defending champions" tag with them, calling it an opportunity to win the title afresh.

"We don't have any mindset that we have to defend (the title). We have to play an attacking game. And with an attacking mindset, we have another opportunity to become champions again this year. We don't have a defensive mindset or defensive frame of mind, that we have to defend (the title).

"This is a new season. What we did was in 2025. We're trying to be in the present as much as possible for the team."